How did we get here?
by Juliet Salvatore
Summary: "Stefan and Rebekah had been driving hours on end with very little idea of where they were actually going. Eventually they managed to find a night club that was to Rebekah's liking."...Read More Damon? Elena? A baby Girl? How did this happen?. Will Semi-follow the storyline from the show, rated T to be safe for future chapters
1. prolouge

**This is a new story that i started writing as a result of TVD withdrowal on Friday, just something short and sweet to start us off the rest of the chapters will be much longer I promise, hope you enjoy :)**

Elena held her new baby to her chest while it slept, gently caressing the baby's cheek. Damon sat on the edge of the bed, his arm around them both as the baby gripped onto his finger with a surprising amount of strength for her small size. 'Just look at her.' Elena said, quite pointlessly in Damon's opinion as he couldn't take his eyes off the tiny sleeping child. 'She's perfect.' Elena rested her head against Damon's chest, letting herself close her eyes for a moment. Every muscle in her body was still shaking and she was exhausted from the 18 hours of effort involved in bringing her daughter into the world. If Damon hadn't been there holding her hand and talking her through it from that very first contraction, she doubted she would have survived the ordeal. It was all worth it though. Just to be able to see and hold her baby, finally after all these time, made the entire journey worth it. 'You know, we still need to come up with a name for her.' She murmured, opening her eyes just enough to see the blue eyes above her. Damon contemplated for a moment, and Elena felt his muscles tense ever so slightly, brows furrowing as he drew in a breath. 'What about… Stefanie?' he suggested.

'Stefanie? With an F?' He nodded. 'Stefanie.' She echoed, the name rolling off her tongue. 'Stefanie Martina Miranda Salvatore. I like it.' She couldn't stop herself giggling, and his muscles relaxed, relieved, 'our little Stefanie Salvatore.'

It was then, while the relief and anxiety of the past few months washed through them as they watched their child sleep, a timid knock from the door frame caught their attention. 'Jeremy.' Damon smiled. 'Come meet your goddaughter.'

**Please, Please, Please review! And stay tuned for more updates...**


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's note: I am really, terribly sorry that this has taken forever to finally publish. I will tell you that the pace will be getting quicker but i can not guarentee that it will go as fast i would like it to as i am a naturally lazy person with motivational issues. **

**Anyway, this story begins after the gang come back from the island with the cure in hand (in my version Katherine has not stolen it, Jermey didn't die and Haliey will not be making an appearence) I really hope you enjoy, and i should mention that this is a story of journey so almost all ships will be explored at one stage or another but ultimatly it is a Delena fic, possibly Steroline as well. **

Chapter 1

The vial stood looming on the bedside table. Elena was struck by how small it seemed for something that was so powerful. She sat on the bed with Damon by her side, so close their arms were touching, both of them entered in a staring contest with this red potion of life and death. All she had to do now was take the vial in her hands and drain it down her throat, but her hands remained clasped in her lap. "You know there is always the chance that once I drink this, once I turn human again, I won't love you as much anymore."

"I know." He replied. "You'll go running back into Stefan's open arms." The certainty and tone of the statement made her want to cry. After everything they had been through together, his insecurities still ate him alive, from the inside out.

"No! Damon that's not true, I'm not going back to Stefan. I just…" There was no point in trying to explain, he had heard it all before. Hell he had to have that speech memorized by now, but it wasn't enough. She didn't want to spend the potentially short time they had left with each other, arguing over the same trivial things yet again. It wasn't the right way to leave things. It felt wrong on so many levels. "You know what? Let's just forget about the cure for the moment." Elena suggested, looking back at Damon, turning her whole body to face him, in time for him to breathlessly murmur, "What do you mean?"

"Just leave it alone right now," she urged, "We can worry about it later ok?" With one hand either side of his face she tore his gaze from the potion, forcing him to face her. "Let's just have one more night. One more secret,' she kissed the side of his mouth enticingly, foreheads glued together. "Selfish," she kissed the other side, gently entangling her fingers with his dishevelled, feathery hair. "Night," she murmured irresistibility against his lips. Damon needed no more enticing, groping at the back of her neck to deepen the kiss. The gesture pinched, sending an intense tickling sensation down her spine…

* * *

Stefan couldn't exactly explain why, but he had been spending a lot more time around Rebekah recently. He couldn't blame it all on the fact that they had been official partners in the Amazing Race cure edition, but there was just some form of empathy between them that he couldn't quite ignore. He mulled over this new found connection as he sat at desk in her bedroom, working on his maths homework of all things. He could hear Rebekah brattling on about something non important from her lazed back position on the bed. She noticed Stefan's silence, interpreting it with an only semi-wrong thought. "Are you thinking about that stupid doppelganger again?"

"No," Stefan answered a little too slowly, he swung the chair around to look at her, quickly correcting himself under Rebekah's judgemental glare. "Maybe."

"You disappoint me Stefan. I thought you wanted to move on from her?" She wasn't lying. He had used those very words more than once before and yet he had achieved nothing of the goal. Rebekah still didn't understand what the obsession with these doppelgangers was about. Somehow they always managed to make men faun over them as if they were Cinderella or Rapunzel or one such ridiculously lazy princess. "You know some people would try to be supportive when a friend gets their heart broken." Stefan told her.

"You can't be heartbroken; she's not even that pretty."

"Wow, that was…shallow."

"What? You're no fun when you're all piney and annoying."

Stefan just blinked. "Klaus was right, you are spoiled."

Uncharacteristically, Rebekah didn't take offence. Instead she just smiled, meticulously, and started crawling to the edge of the bed as she purred, "I know what you need."

"What's that?" Rebekah loved how husky his voice got in these little moments, as he watched her with hawk eyes, positioning herself with her legs crossed hanging over the foot of the bed. "A little 20's flashback, might remind you what the word 'fun' actually means." She answered. Right on cue, one of Stefan's eyebrows raised itself half way up his forehead and Rebekah saw it, in spite of him modestly looking down in an attempt to hide it. "Aha. And, what are you suggesting…exactly?"

"Oh, I don't know," She added a dramatic sigh of flare's sake, "Maybe get in your car, drive far, far away and find a bar where neither of us knows anybody there. Turn off your phone, of course so doppelganger can't call…"

"Her name is Elena."

"Of course it is. Anyway turn off the phone so doppelganger can't call and then find ourselves a drink or two. Do you still have a taste for thirty year old brunettes?"

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the boarding-house, Damon and Elena could procrastinate no longer, mutually deciding that delaying any longer could mean having the cure stolen from right under their noses. Elena had not expected to feel afraid when the time came, but she was. No matter how much she wanted to take this cure, and she did, no one could know for certain what awaited her on the other side. "I have to take this now, or I'll never take it." She thought aloud, feeling Damon's arms tighten around her as she did so.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" He breathed against her skin, "Because you don't have to take it if it's not what you want." Almost everyone was unanimously decided on the fact that it should be her who took this first dose of the cure. Klaus wanted her blood and the blood of her offspring, Damon wanted to know if she really loved him, Stefan wanted his human love back and everybody else just wanted one less vampire in town. Nobody had actually asked her this question before. Elena thought of Jeremy at home right now, probably playing on his x-box, or sketching a picture in his book. He was expecting his sister, his human sister to walk through the doors of Gilbert house tomorrow morning, only a few hours away. The thought of him made her certain of her answer. "Yes, I'm sure."

"Ok then." Damon reached one hand out for the vial that still sat ominously atop the Sherlock Holmes novel he had been reading, on his bedside table. He handed it to the women in his arms, trading it for a kiss. "I love you," she whispered, staring straight into those beautiful sparkling blue eyes that would put any star to shame. "Dido," he replied, physically unable to choke out any more. With long, experienced fingers Elena pulled the miniature cork stopper out of the bottle, and without breaking eye-contact with her loving demon, drained every drop of the elixir. Then Damon began to get scared. Elena's eyes ran frantically from side to side inside their sockets. Pearls of sweat materialised and fell from her. He could feel her temperature rising, and rising, and rising and finally….. She went limp. Ice cold and motionless in his arms.

**Author's note: So there it is i hope you enjoy. Future chapter's will deffinatly get longer continualy as the story progresses i recognise that this was a really short chapter. Please, please, please review, review, review, i need the motivation to continue writing, i also accept idea's/requests for future chapters if you have any.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Author's note: First off i would like to give a massive thanks to my truely awsome reviewers, Candygun101, Guest, fanfisareawsome, elfgirrl,vamomoftwins, and Katrock82. You guys are a true motivation and inspiration for my story. THANK YOU! **

**Secondly i would like to dedicate this chapter to my beautiful, georgous doggy Molly, who passed away earlier this week. You are greatly missed my angel, and this is for you. I hope you enjoy the new chapter. **

Chapter 2

Stefan and Rebekah had been driving hours on end with very little idea of where they were actually going. Eventually they managed to find a night club that was to Rebekah's liking. (She had rejected the past 12 they entered, "argh, to loud!...to dark…to dirty….Looks like a place Nik would hang out…God no, too pink.") However once the perfect location had been scouted it was extravagant just as she had promised. The lights were dim, the music blaring, people were dancing, everybody was drunk and sweaty and giddy with warm blood rushing through their veins. In other words it was next to perfect. Stefan had been sceptical at first, watching her chew on her first few victims but eventually the scent got to him and he began to remember what the thick, red, liquid tasted like. With its warm, and soothing essence that tasted like, like the finest scotch from the best brewer in the world. Blood was food, substance, everything he needed and had ever wanted in life. Rebekah was onto her fourth drunk victim, (a honey blonde man in his late 20's that made some sketchy comment about her ass) when she caught Stefan's eye she pulled away from her dinner to look him straight in the face, not bothering to retract the veins or fangs. A sick sought of pleasure came from the leering smile he gave her, "Did you want some?" She drooled.

"I thought you'd never ask," was his sardonic response. Without his conscience consent the blood that had been circulating around his body began to pool in his eyes, and his jaw became uncomfortably cramped. He edged forward towards her, slowly, enjoying the suspense of the moment, but just as he was getting close enough to grab the man and feed to satisfaction, she shoved the prey aside smirking as she did so. Stefan looked up, confused and brooding. Why was she teasing him? His senses were frustrated by the distracting sight and aroma of the red fluid streaming out of the human's neck. Rebekah smeared the free flowing blood onto her hand and spread it across her own neck with a sardonic smirk. "Help yourself." She invited. Without a moment's hesitation he had her clasped in his arms in an unescapable grip, sucking at her bare neck until the salty taste was suddenly gone. It had been far too long since he had that sweet taste flowing through his veins. Rebekah moaned as she felt the pinch of his bite tear through her skin, groaning and rolling her eyes as he drank from her as if he were a newborn baby. The human still stood to the side watching with a hand covering his wound, dazed and forgotten.

* * *

Cars chased Elena around in her dreams. The abstract dreams that made no logical sense. There were merely cars driving and turning and bridges and streams of water that eventually faded into complete oblivion… She woke with a gasp and chills crippling her down to shivers. At the first sound of her consciousness she felt a pair of muscular arms wrap around and she instantly froze. "Elena?" Damon questioned. There was no need for the rest of his question, she knew what he was asking. "I'm fine… I think." She looked away from the blue eyes and observed the rest of the room. Damon's room complete with doorless bathroom. "What am I doing here?" Elena stretched her memory back to the last thing she remembered. Water being inhaled through her nose and clogging her throat and… "Matt! Oh My God is Matt ok?"

"What? Yeah Elena, Matt's fine, how do you feel?" It was good question, how did she feel? She couldn't think straight enough to be able answer that question; she just shook her head "I thought I was dead." Damon gently brushed the side of cheek, a not unfamiliar gesture but there was something off about it. He shouldn't be touching her, he shouldn't be comforting her, and she shouldn't be in his room. She looked around but couldn't find the person she was looking for. "How did Stefan do it?"

"Do what?"

"Save me?" his fingers wound into her hair, though as she asked these questions his brow furrowed in clear confusion. His gaze made her uncomfortable, "Damon, you can't…" gently, so as not to anger him, she brushed his hand off her face and that only seemed to further his confusion. "Where is Stefan? Where's Matt, I should go see him, make sure his ok."

"Elena… what's the last thing you remember?"

"Well, Matt and I were driving back to Mystic Falls and then we saw Rebekah in the middle of the road, and we swerved and went off of Wickery Bridge and then Stefan showed up and, I thought I was going to die."

"Oh," realisation dawned on his face.

"Oh, what?"

"Nothing," Elena could tell that it was not nothing, the way he moved his arms from that comforting grasp around her, keeping them to himself instead told her that much. She told herself that she didn't care about the sudden chill that she got without his arms around her. It was inappropriate now anyway. She had chosen Stefan, wherever he was, and Damon was going to have to learn to keep his hands to himself. "Stefan's out right now Elena he… figured you'd be hungry after you woke up so he went out to pick up some food." A pathetic lie he knew that, but what was his alternative? He had no idea where Stefan was, but it wasn't anywhere near this house. "Why don't you go wait in his room I'm sure he won't be too much longer."

She nodded uncomfortably, still dazed Damon guessed, and was about to leave the room when she changed her mind, "wait, maybe I should go home first and see Jeremy. He's probably worried sick,"

"I'll call him you should rest."

She looked beyond confused, and rightly so in Damon's opinion, but she did as Damon asked. Even suffering from amnesia she still trusted him.

* * *

Stefan had lost track of both time, and how much blood he had consumed, by the time his phone beeped in his pocket reporting a text message. With a groan he dragged his head away from his lunch's neck, what was her name again? Melissa? Not that it really mattered. The message Damon sent was clean and simple. _Get back here ASAP, Elena emergency. PS, Bring Food. _Just like that, the past however many hours meant nothing. Abandoning Melissa he searched out Rebekah, finding her drinking at the bar. "Alright, it's time to go."

* * *

Jeremy had already come, visited with Elena, yelled at Damon for somehow causing his sister problem, got all angusty teenager about weither or not his sister was going to be ok, and gone again by the time Stefan showed up. "Took you long enough," Damon scrutinised Stefan as he walked through the door; "I thought I told you to bring food?" Stefan looked around the room. It was the traditional boarding house image, the couch, the fireplace, his brother pouring himself another glass of bourbon from the bar… but no Elena.

"I thought you told me there was an emergency? "He inquired. Damon sighed as he relayed his story.

"Wait, so you mean that she remembers nothing of her vampire life?"

"Right,"

"At all?"

"Nope," Damon confirmed. "Apparently when she took the cure it brought her back to the last moment she remembered as a human. Which means that she is all yours again brother." With that he chugged downed the entire glass, wasting no time in pouring himself another one.

"Where is she?"

"Your room," Damon grumbled. Stefan hesitated, briefly conflicted. He looked at his brother, who was slowly drinking himself into a stupor. Surely it wouldn't be too long before he bored of the domestic stuff and ran off to the Grill for something a lot more expensive. Regardless, he couldn't leave a confused, memory depraved Elena all alone, and so he ran up the stairs.

* * *

The shower had been calming and reenergising, making Elena feel a little more alive then she had been beforehand, but she still couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing. Or maybe not missing per say, more like she had forgotten something crucial. She shook the feeling away, reminding herself that she had nearly drowned yesterday; she could be forgiven for a few minor lapses.

Elena had showered, changed and was onto page 88 of the Great Gatsby (Stefan had always said she should read it, and it was lying around on his bedside table) by the time Stefan showed up, poking his head around the door like a timid little puppy. "Hey, how are you feeling?" Elena ran over to him throwing her arms around him taking him completely by surprise, it took him a moment to respond, reciprocating the hug. "I feel great," she promised, kissing him gently on the mouth. "I'm just so glad you're here. How did you safe me?"

"Ermm… I got to you just in time, I guess." He improvised.

"Well, thank you. So much." She pulled him back into another hug, though this time he was more prepared, burying his head into hair to brush his lips against her neck, smelling the intoxicating aroma of her warm, human blood running through her artery. The damning evidence that the cure had worked.

**Author's Note: So there it is, hope you enjoyed it. Fun fact: The Bar scene with Rebekah and Stefan was originally written as a Delena oneshot of the Collage Frat Party. If you liked the chapter and would like to read more, or have any feedback at all please do review, I also accept ideas/requests for future chapters.**


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